1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of, and system for, secure application of seals.
2. Description of Related Art
In some cultures and business environments, the preferred indicator of approval of a document is not a signature, but is instead a seal, sometimes known as a "chop". Typically this seal is a physical object which has a pattern embossed at one end, so that a person may ink the seal with a stamp pad and print a copy of the seal on a document.
When an office maintains a large number of documents, it is sometimes desirable to keep those documents in a "paperless" format, such as an optical image of what the document would look like if printed. The original document image may be generated by optically scanning a paper document, by generating and storing a print image of the document, or by generating and storing data for a document which is to be displayed on demand as a form.
One problem has arisen in the art is that it is impossible to impress the physical seal on a document which is not printed, i.e., on an optical document image. A related problem is that if an optical image of the seal is added to the document, using digital imaging techniques or other related techniques, a viewer of the document has substantially less confidence in the seal itself. This is because, unlike a physical seal, which can be kept physically secure by an authorized individual or a set of authorized individuals, an optical image of a seal might be applied by anyone who can achieve access to the necessary software for doing so.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method in which application of seals to optical document images is both convenient and secure.